My New Iowa Friend Is Considering Driving.

I met a 35-year-old gentleman in Des Moines, IA this summer. He suffered a bad right-foot injury about 2017 while working construction and falling off a scaffold 20 feet and landing like a cat. I have been living in Des Moines in central Iowa since May of this year.

He wants to make at least $50K a year driving a truck with a CDL but prefers only a "40-hour work week". Local driving including cement mixers and dump trucks is especially appealing to him as he is a home lover with hard-hat work experience. His brother is a younger lawyer in West Des Moines and I have made friends with him as well.

I told him to check this website out as it has all the resources, including CDL training. I told him big motor carriers as Schneider, Swift, Prime and Hunt have a paid CDL training program.

Any recommendations for my new friend? He did even mention to me around the time I first met him that truck driving interested him. It would be ideal for him due to a foot injury in which he has metal hardware implanted by three surgeries. He recently looked into being a warehouse worker and forklift driver for amazon.com locally but no luck there. He says he has a perfect driving record; no DWI and no felonies. I don't know if he has any points for at-fault accidents. I've heard he totaled at least one motorcycle and a car since about 2012. He has admitted that he has been in alcohol and drug programs over the past few years. Vicodin abuse for foot pain, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts and depression. His life was never that grim before that work injury. I told him that as a driver applicant he would be tested for substances. He is planning to have doctors follow up with foot pain soon and he may possibly need a new surgery to fix his foot hardware. His right foot shattered upon falling from the scaffolding.

I told my friend to check out this site. I told him I had been interested in driving myself. Furthermore, I told this man that the American trucking industry is about 50K drivers short.

He wants to make at least $50K a year driving a truck with a CDL but prefers only a "40-hour work week".

I don't see that happening. If we have any members here with this type experience, I'd like to hear about it. I'm sure this is possible in rare scenarios, but I just don't think it's very common. I'd love to hear from those who are doing this.

I don't see that happening. If we have any members here with this type experience, I'd like to hear about it. I'm sure this is possible in rare scenarios, but I just don't think it's very common. I'd love to hear from those who are doing this.

Where I'm at we have drivers making over 80k on a 4 day 40 hour week. Myself, I would be in that range but I opted for a 5 day around 50-55 hours and about $120k. The biggest thing with these types of jobs is many are seniority based. You won't get it right off the street with no experience. Yesterday for example I worked just shy of 10 hours. 6 stops in Omaha/Lincoln area was 475 miles with 6 stops. It paid about $480. Our routes stay relatively the same every week with maybe a backhaul added on but if I ran a similar route 4 days a week all year it'd be around that 40 hours a week and nearly $100k. Again, it's seniority based and it'll take time to get there. Nearly 5 years ago I was driver #136 or so when I started. Currently I'm #121 of 197. I recall the LTL guys mentioning the P&D drivers work around 40 to 45 a week and make around $60k with much more ideal hours.

If your "friend" is serious, have him sit at the rest stop north of Ankeny and watch the dump trucks going down the road and start applying. J&T, McAnich (sp?), and Mannatts among others go nonstop from the Martin Marrietta mine in Ames down to Des Moines during daylight hours hauling gravel. There's also some Concrete companies off Delaware Ave near Euclid, as well as Dixon near Euclid in Des Moines. Most locations for the state are also looking for plow drivers this winter.

Rob, is your job labor intensive? Ambrose Johnson and "his friends" seem averse to physical activity. Plus his friend has a bad foot causing him pain. Do you think he could keep the pace required in your position?

Honestly Rob, I've forgotten how your current position works. Are you touching/unloading freight? I'm not sure that kind of thing appeals to this category of always seeking yet never pulling the trigger drivers.

Rob, is your job labor intensive? Ambrose Johnson and "his friends" seem averse to physical activity. Plus his friend has a bad foot causing him pain. Do you think he could keep the pace required in your position?

Honestly Rob, I've forgotten how your current position works. Are you touching/unloading freight? I'm not sure that kind of thing appeals to this category of always seeking yet never pulling the trigger drivers.

We use an electric pallet jack to move full pallets to where the stores want them (typically the coolers or sales floor). Occasionally the pallet jack is broken but the stores take care of unloading in that situation. It's no more labor intensive than simply walking honestly, though some stores are much more walking than others. We have several drivers with leg issues that they walk differently or slower than normal that get the job done the same. Occasionally you need to restack a pallet if it tips over or take cases off the top if it doesn't fit through the cooler doors but it isn't real heavy product. I'd estimate probably 50% of our drivers are 55 or older, including a couple that are turning 70 next year. There's a couple of our gas stations we deliver to that get maybe 50 cases each that we hand unload. Personally at the grocery store I'll stack them on the tail so I don't need to climb up, but the gas station takes everything in. We also have guys in our LTL OTR side with different routes. A few months ago we picked up a contract with a chicken place east of Mason City. Our daycabs pick up the load then the OTR guys pick it up at our yard and run it to Little Rock, pick up at Tyson in Waldron AR and come back. They make 2 trips a week. Theyre home Wednesdays and weekends and make somewhere around $1600 for the week (2600 miles @57 CPM , $32/Stop. Thats no touch.

Ambrose, if your "friend" is serious about wanting to get started in trucking just pull the trigger and get started. You've been around here a long time with various names but never pull the trigger. Initially you won't get exactly what you're looking for. Give it a year or so and many options will open up. It's showing you in Ankeny, well Ruan has an account with the state to distribute the hard alcohol across the state there in Ankeny just West of Delaware Ave south of Oralabor. Ruan also has a smaller operating center with day cabs off I35 and Corporate woods east of the Caseys. Everything for them is palletized with an electric jack, but you may need to 2 wheel them inside smaller business like gas stations on that alcohol account.

Thanks Rob!

That's why I wanted to hear from someone doing this type thing. There are all kinds of truck drivers and all sorts of jobs available. It's a unique career with opportunities for unique individuals.

Frankly, most drivers I know don’t expect to get a 40hr per week job, ever. If someone wants a 40hr driving job and to be home every day with a set schedule, they might want to consider driving a box van for a retail company or doing what Rob suggested and drive a dump truck, etc.

Also, with that damaged foot I wonder how being on the pedal a lot would work out?My foot is just fine (except it might stink from time to time) and it still gets sore if I have to be on the pedal a lot. Thank goodness for cruise control. I use it whenever my foot starts to ache or when the terrain makes it useful.

Todd is back again.

No, the trucking world isn't 50K short of drivers. That number has been in use before I came out on the road in 2014. Companies are now cutting back on the number of trucks that they hope to fill, had leased and were sitting around. Sure, they would like more drivers, but a number of companies I'm aware of are not pushing to get extra units.

He has admitted that he has been in alcohol and drug programs over the past few years. Vicodin abuse for foot pain, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts and depression. His life was never that grim before that work injury. I told him that as a driver applicant he would be tested for substances. He is planning to have doctors follow up with foot pain soon and he may possibly need a new surgery to fix his foot hardware.

This is a big concern. Companies have different time limits to accept a previous drug user. Some might differentiate between prescription drugs because of an injury and recreational use, but many do not. They consider all drug use to be the same. My company requires at least 5 years drug free before they will accept the former drug user. Our friend went to a company that requires 7 years. It doesn't matter if they went through programs to combat the drug use, in this economy they want good drivers with nothing in their past. If he goes through a company school he may stand a better chance but he has to be very upfront about the drug use before even going to school.

Laura